I wanted those balls to help create my children one day, so that was out. Bend light? Was he drunk? That was some advanced-level shit that Darren was trying to teach me, but I had yet to even be able to produce light. And I wasn’t using dark magic. No way. Never again. And definitely not on him.

“I’m pregnant and it’s yours,” I stated calmly.

His eyes widened and his arm relaxed. “What?” he roared.

Using the distraction to roll out of the way of his sword, I kicked out with my leg, tripping him. He dropped the sword and went flying on his ass.

I grinned from my place on the floor as he turned to glare at me. “That was a low blow.” Then he looked impressed. “But effective.”

My body swiftly moved, crawling over to him, and straddling his waist. We were alone in the smaller side gym, and Lincoln was getting less pissy about public displays of affection. He kept threatening to find me a new trainer so there wasn’t a conflict of interest, but then he’d say he didn’t trust anyone enough.

When I plopped down on his crotch and arched my back, pressing my pelvis into him, he groaned.

“Silly. We haven’t had sex, so I can’t be pregnant.” I bent down and kissed his hot mouth.

He sucked my bottom lip, palm flattening against my back, and then suddenly I was being spun, until I was underneath him.

“Maybe I need to remedy that situation.” He looked me up and down with a half-lidded gaze.

Oh God, yes, please.

I checked a fake watch on my wrist. “Now’s good for me.”

He grinned, a mischievous glint in his eyes. “I’ll tell you what. Pass the gauntlet, and then maybe I’ll consider deflowering you.”

A groan escaped me. “I’m not a virgin! Since when does a girl have to beg for sex?”

He kissed my forehead and rolled off me. “Since now.”

The sexual tension between us was so strong, and I knew he was hurting as much as I was. I’d never wanted someone so badly as I wanted him. All of him. We’d been exclusively dating almost three months now. If we used protection, and were both consenting adults, we could totally bring on the sex!

“Pass the gauntlet,” he reiterated.

Standing, I peeled off my tank top to reveal my blue sports bra. I hoped my nipples were hard, like two little fingers flipping him off.

His eyes widened. “What are you doing?”

“Nothing,” I answered with a shrug. “It’s hot in here.”

He scowled. “I see what you’re doing. Trying to kill me?”

“Is it working?”

He adjusted his pants. “Yes. We’re done for today.”

I grinned.

Chapter Eighteen

That night, I met Luke, Chloe, and Shea in the training room for practice. We’d heard a rumor that in the gauntlet, you were forced to work in teams, so we were practicing team drills and team takedowns. My arms and legs were ripped after lifting weights with Darren every day, and Shea was getting scary good with spell casting. Last week she’d done some illusion thingy to make it look like Lincoln was sleeping in my bed. It was super depressing to roll over and see him disappear.

“Okay, so my dad let slip that the gauntlet isn’t just to keep you in this school. It also determines your rank if and when you join the Fallen Army. It’s timed, so better time, better rank,” Chloe said, her fanged teeth protruding slightly onto her bottom lip.

I shrugged. “Sounds cool, like a magical fitness test.”

She nodded. “But my dad says they make it real. He couldn’t say more, but he insinuated that our lives could really be in danger.”

That had my eyes widening. “Why would Raphael allow that?”

Shea rolled her eyes. “You put Raphael on this pedestal. Yes, school here is free, but that’s only because the archangels are recruiting for their army.”

“Their army that protects people from demons,” I interjected.

Shea shrugged. “I’m just saying. They want to sort the weak from the strong, and I like my cushy life here, so let’s practice.”

I grinned. “Are you sure you can miss your Wednesday night date?” Wednesday was her “make out with Noah in the car, and leave him with blue balls” day.

“Have you slept with him yet?” Chloe asked.

Shea made a disgusted face. “I would never allow his wee-wee in my va-jay-jay.”

I burst out laughing, not just at her verbiage, but also at the look of horror that crossed Luke’s face when she said it.

“Did you seriously just say ‘wee-wee’? Oh my God, you’re such a kindergarten teacher,” I teased.

Shea rolled her eyes. “Fine, I don’t want his dirty dick near me. He gets around.”

Ew, that was vulgar. I almost prefer wee-wee. “Why not break it off?” I asked, setting up practice mats around the gym.

She shrugged. “I have this fantasy that one day he’ll stop whoring around, we’ll get married, have two-point-five children, and live in the ’burbs.”

Now it was Chloe’s turn to laugh. “Well, he keeps coming back for more, so you must have something he wants.” She winked, and smacked Shea’s butt.

Shea blew her a kiss, and then rubbed her hands together. “Check this out. I found an advanced Mage book while I was grading papers in Mr. Claymore’s office, and I’ve been dying to try this spell. It creates a portal between two points. So let’s say the gauntlet is a long run. I can open the portal here and end it at the finish line, bringing us all through to win.”

Luke let out a low whistle. “But remember the time you tried that spell to make my horns drip poison and I almost died?”

Oh, ouch. That was pretty scary. Luke’s Beast form was frightening, but it was even scarier that his horns could pierce flesh. Shea had the brilliant idea to make them drip poison, but it went all wrong, and he’d ended up in the healing ward for a week.

Shea rolled her eyes. “I’ve improved a lot since then. This is harmless. No one has to go through right now. I’m just going to start practicing opening the portal.”

Chloe shrugged. “Fine, but do it over there so if it blows up we don’t get hurt.” She gestured to the corner of the room.

Shea gave her a pissy look, but did as she’d asked.

“Okay, Luke, you shift,” I instructed, then pointed to the Nightblood. “Chloe, I want to test your strength.”

She grinned. “I thought you’d never ask.” Her lips puckered as she laid a kiss on her inner arm, which she then lifted and flexed.

I chuckled. I’d somehow become leader of our little practice group. So far no one had died, so I figured I was doing something right.

Luke started shifting, and I knew I’d never get used to the sound of cracking bones. There were varying types of Beast Shifters. Most of them were earthly animals with horns, which was the case with Luke. His bulked-out brown bear form with curled black horns was pretty terrifying to look at. The only thing that calmed me was knowing that it was my good friend inside it, and that he’d never hurt me.

After Luke was on all fours, letting out a little roar to make sure we wouldn’t easily wet our pants during the gauntlet, we were ready.

“All right, Chloe, strength and speed are your main two gifts,” I acknowledged.

She put a hand on her hip. “And my devilishly good looks.”

I grinned. “And that. So let’s see if you can chuck Luke’s bear into that mat across the room.”

Luke’s big brown bear eyes went wide, but Chloe didn’t look fazed. She was a daredevil who liked a challenge; it was what I admired most about her.

“You ready, big boy?” Chloe asked, tossing her red hair over one shoulder.

He hated being called big boy, so at her words, he spread his paws out, and stood as still as a five-hundred-pound statue, just glaring at her.

Chloe tore across the room blindly fast and slammed into Luke’s rib cage, knocking him on his side. I winced at the impact. She wouldn’t go hard enough to hurt him, but that definitely wasn’t comfortable. With a grunt, she heaved him six inches into the air before slipping, and then he went plopping down to the ground again.

“Uhhh, guys?” Shea shouted from her corner of the room.

I turned back over my shoulder to look at her, my eyes bugging out of my head. What am I seeing?

Shea had created some hole in the ground and a tiny Snakeroot demon was crawling out of it, looking pissed as all hell. She went rigid and slowly started to back up, knowing full well how nasty those little shits could be. It was best not to startle them either, as one spit to the face could leave you blind for life. I had the acid scar on my foot to prove how temperamental the little buggers could be.

Chloe was staring at the demon with abject horror. She’d likely never seen one in her whole life by the shock written on her face. Luke was a bit more relaxed, shifting his weight as if deciding to charge it or not.

“Don’t move. They spook easy and spit acid,” I told my friends. We’d all taken the course on demonology in history, but I wasn’t sure how much of it they’d retained. I didn’t want anyone losing an eye or being scarred for life over a careless move.

The Snakeroot demon had fully crawled out of the portal by that point and was looking around the room. Those little creatures loved sugar. Cupcakes, syrup, candy—anything sweet would distract them. But fate wasn’t on our side, because we were in the freaking gym without a scrap of food on us.

The demon snapped his head in Shea’s direction and hissed.

“Shea, Monkshood illusion,” I shouted.

That brought the creature’s attention to me, and he puckered his lips and spit in my direction. I leapt out of the way just in time, the acidic goo landing a mere foot away.

“Calm down. We know where the candy is,” I told him.

He cocked his head to the side, drool forming in his lizard-like mouth. If he didn’t spit acid and act like a total maniac, he’d actually be cute. At twenty-four inches tall, he was reminiscent of a medium-sized dog, except with scaly skin, and sticky hands and feet that let him climb walls.